Learn All About Ponies
Kids Pony Blog
Welcome to our activity blog created just for your pony loving child. At Chamberlin we understand that pony loving children love to learn everything about ponies. We will bring them an exciting activity blog filled with all kinds of information on what we feed our ponies, how we take care of them, as well as pony games, quizzes and information that teach kids all about ponies.
Please stop by often as we will be adding to the exciting blog every week.
FIRST HORSES
When you see a pony on television stand on its back legs and paw the air with it's hooves, would you believe that the horse's ancestors had paws like a dog? If you had been here around 50 million years ago, you could have seen this animal that looked a lot like a dog, was the size of a Jack Russel and was known as Eohippus. Over time, the pony left those early forests and it's paws turned into little hooves that could move easily over grasslands and hard rocks. Many more changes occurred as over time it changed into the horse that scientists today call Equus caballus.
Do you ever look at your cousins and think that they don't look like you at all? One of the horses relatives is a manatee, an animal that looks like a walrus and lives in the ocean! A rhinoceros is more like a horse than the hippopotamus, whose name means "water horse." Can you think of other animals that aren't what they seem to be? Even though a panda looks like one, it is not a bear, and many people don't believe a penguin is a bird! Have you ever seen a picture of a platypus? It has a bill like a duck, a tail like a paddle, and webbed feet with claws on them. It lays eggs and nurses its young like a mother horse does!
TRY THIS
MUSTANG ROUND UP GAME
Choose one or more children to be rustlers. All the other Pony party guests are mustangs. When the rustlers hear command "Corral 'em!" - They have to catch the mustangs. When players get caught, they go to a designated area called "Corral." There they must stand with their legs wide apart.
To be freed, one of the free mustangs must crawl between their legs. Keep the game going until every mustang has been caught
THE WILD WEST
People used to call the West wild back in the days when millions of buffalo and herds of horses used to roam it. Some say the earth shook when the buffalo started to stampede! Today a few of the parks in the West still raise buffalo herds and the park staff will sometimes let visitors watch them being round up in the fall the same way they do with cattle. If you are able to take a vacation to a park, you might be lucky enough to see a buffalo, an elk, a moose, a horse, or other wild animals.
A man called Buffalo Bill Cody used to shoot the buffalo for food for the men who were building the railroad. Eventually, he brought a ranch and developed a Wild West show that traveled all over North America and parts of Europe. The show even included outlaws on horses. which were part of what made the West so wild! These outlaws were known for riding horses while they were holding up trains, stagecoaches, and banks. Some of these horses could be ridden for a hundred miles in a day, which made it easy for the outlaws to make their escape.
WORDS TO KNOW
SADDLE
A saddle is a special seat designed to allow a rider to sit on the back of a horse. Saddles are made of leather and use cinches or girths to keep them from coming off the horse.
PONY OR A HORSE?
What is the difference between a pony and a horse? Some people say that the main difference is their size: A horse is around 14.2 hands high, while a pony is less than that. Did you know that it is common to measure a horses's height using the width of a man's hand? they measure from the top of a horses withers, or top of its back, down to the ground. Checking the height of a person in the same way that we check a horse's height would mean that you would only measure from the persons shoulders to the floor. Most grownups would be more than fourteen hands, so you could say they were as tall as a horse!
Not all horses are bigger than ponies, though. Falabella horses are miniature horses that are usually less than thirty inches tall, so although they look like regular horses, they would only be a few hands high. Shetland breeds are what people normally picture when they think of riding ponies. These ponies look short and stout and tough.
Do you have a favorite Chamberlin pony or horse?
FUN PONY GAME
BALLOON WRANGLERS
To play this game, give each child a stick horse and a pool noodle. Scatter a bunch of balloons around the yard. Set up a square pen by placing stakes in the ground to form a square and stringing yarn from stake to stake to “enclose” it on three sides. Or,use non toxic/washable paint to not kill the grass! Have the kids ride their stick horses and use the pool noodles to push the balloons into the pen.
Keep playing until all of the balloons have been wrangled.
MINIATURE HORSES
Many of our Chamberlin event managers have Miniature Horses. It is thought that the Europeans brought the original horses to the New World with them. Eventually they escaped into the wild and gradually grew smaller, as the other wild horses did.
Ranchers in South America found the little horses and kept raising smaller and smaller horses from them. Some of them are now less than thirty inches tall so a very small child could ride them, but many of our miniature horses are used to pull carts. Have you ever heard of seeing-eye horses? Sometimes miniature horses are used instead of dogs to assist people who cannot see well.
How many miniature horses can you find on our web site?
FUN PONY GAME
PONY, PONY HORSE
This traditional party game of Duck, Duck, Goose is perfect for the restless ponies J All children must sit in a circle. Choose one child to be ‘it’ they must walk around the outside of the circle tapping each child on the head saying ‘duck’ ‘duck’. They choose one person to be ‘goose’. The child who is ‘it’ then must run around the circle to get back and sit in the gooses spot. The goose must chase after them, attempting to catch them before they get back to their spot. The goose then becomes ‘it’.
GIANT HORSES
Did you ever wonder why there are enormous horses and why anyone would want one?
During the Middle Ages, more than 600 years ago, these horses were used to carry armored knights.
The knights weren't the only ones who wore protected/ the horses also wore armor, so they had to be very big and strong.
What Is a Clydesdale Horse?
Imagine you are at a parade. Floats roll by, and marching bands play. Then, around the corner comes the largest horse you've ever seen! It's tall and brown and has some... fluffy feet!?
You have just met a Clydesdale horse.
How big is a Clydesdale Horse?
Clydesdale horses are very, very big. They range in height from 64 to 72 inches from their foot to their shoulder. That's about six feet tall, so that means that many Clydesdales are taller than the average adult man! They also weigh about 2,000 pounds, which is one ton!
Even baby Clydesdales are very big. A newborn baby can weigh up to 180 pounds.
Clydesdales' feet can be as large as dinner plates, and their horseshoes weigh about 5 pounds apiece. That's as much as a carrying a bag of sugar on each foot!
What Do Clydesdale Horses Eat?
Clydesdale horses, like all horses, are herbivores. That means they eat plants and grain. These huge herbivores eat an enormous amount of hay and grain feed every day. An adult might eat up to 50 pounds of hay and 10 pounds of grain. That's double the amount of food that other horse breeds eat!
Big baby Clydesdales also eat a lot. In order to support their growing bodies, Clydesdale moms may produce up to 100 pounds of milk per day for their babies. This rich, nutritious milk can help a baby Clydesdale gain up to 4 pounds a day.
A Clydesdale inside?!
We are the only company in the country that offers the opportunity to get "up close and personal" with a Clydesdale.
See our "Ride the Clyde" party options.
What am I?
You may know me from the television, as I like to appear in alot of commercials. You will usually see me with the rest of my team, pulling a large wagon. To some, I am a horse of grace and beauty. Some people even call me the "Rockstar of the horse world".
* the answer is above...
PAINTED HORSES
Many of our Chamberlin event managers have Paint horses and ponies. When you think of painted ponies, you probably think of a Native American rider on a pinto blending so perfectly into the scenery around it that they look like they are wearing camouflage. Maybe you have heard of a breed called the Paint Horse. This unusual horse looks like someone threw a bucket of white paint over its colored coat.
Other horses that look a lot like them are called Piebalds and Skewbalds. Some horses with small spots are called dappled. The roan horse is spotted, but the spots are so close together that they seem to be one color. Appaloosa horses many times start out as a horse with a white coat, but as they age they develop spots in different patterns. One of the more interesting color combinations is the Grulla horse. It looks like it has a broad stripe running down it's back, with stripes extending down its sides.
If someone says your horse has a snip, star, stripe or blaze, they are usually talking about white areas on his face. Areas like these on its legs are usually referred to as stockings or socks. Although true painted ponies just look like they are painted, some of the old-time horse traders or race-horse owners really painted ponies. They substituted one horse for another and covered up distinctive markings with real paint to trick the horse's buyer.
How many Painted horses or ponies can you find on our web site?
Watch your fingers!
Feeding a horse
It is important to remember whenever you feed a horse that you will always want to hold your hand opened out flat with the food on your palm. Horses don't eat like people/ horses use their lips and teeth like fingers to pick up their food and may mistake your fingers for a carrot.
Zedonk
A horse in Striped Pajamas
When you cross a horse and a donkey, you get a mule. But what about a zebra and a donkey?
A zedonk!
Zebra/donkey hybrids do occur in nature, for example in South Africa, where zebras and donkeys live close to each other, but they are exceptionally rare.
Chamberlin has the only Zedonk available for riding in Michigan.
Can you find the Zedonk on our web site?
Chamberlin Pony Rides & Mobile Petting Zoo LLC